


Not Just a Number

by Galrafloofandlove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), I blame sleep deprivation again, Keith (Voltron) Has Issues, M/M, Medical Torture, Medical Trauma, Not Canon Compliant, Shiro (Voltron) Has Issues, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-28 23:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15717228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galrafloofandlove/pseuds/Galrafloofandlove
Summary: What if Krolia brought Keith back with her into space?And what if Keith was later captured by the Galra?





	Not Just a Number

**Author's Note:**

> I write weird stuff when I can't sleep.

The base has been compromised. 

There was nothing anybody could do about it, no matter how hard everybody fought. They tried to prevent him from being captured, but with the surprise attack, he had been trapped from all angles and no human, Galra, or hybrid could've fought them all off. He had passed out from pain and woke up being roughly carried by the shoulders down a dark purple hallway that he quickly recognized as the inside of a Galra ship. 

He was thrown into a small cell, with no light shining through. Just a cold stone floor and rough concrete walls. His hands had been cuffed and chained to the corner of the wall, the regular dark purple prisoner suit and ratty, oversized crop top. It was torture, just being chained to the wall in silence for quitants on end. 

But the torture had only begun. 

~~~~~~

After staying in that cell for what felt like decophobes, he was taken to a room with a bright purple light shining above a table that he was immediately pushed onto after he was given just a second to observe the room. 

They strapped him down by his chest, arms, legs and ankles and they left him like that, with the straps holding him down so much he could only slightly lift his head up and tilt it sideways by just a few inches. The bright light shining in his eyes when he opened them, and a faint beeping sound repeating every so often. 

He didn't know what they wanted with him. He tried to retrace everything he knew about himself to try and figure that question out. His name was Keith Kogane, a name given to him by his father. He was sixteen decophobes old. He was a galra-human hybrid-

Oh. 

His mother had informed him life on Earth (The planet where he was born) didn't know galra existed, or any humanoid creature aside from themselves for that matter. She had told him it was a big possibility he was the only galra-human hybrid. 

They wanted to look into the human species. 

He was their way to do that. 

~~~~~~

They had cut into him too many times to count. 

The scars were left with simple thin cloth to avoid staining everything with his blood. He had gotten multiple infections from the open cuts, just for those to be poked and prodded at further. They had twisted his bones to the point he couldn't feel anything, and at times he didn't even believe his body was his own. It didn't feel like his own.

On top of losing the number of times he had been sliced open, he also lost track of time. It had felt like a million decophobes, but he estimated it had only been two at most. 

One day, after throwing him into his cell, they brought somebody to the cell across from his. The man was tall, held more muscle than Keith had ever seen other of a species other than the Galra. Speaking of species, he seemed...human. Keith was able make out dark hair with some white somewhere, and a scar across his nose. The light struck him just right and Keith saw he had a metal arm- druids must've been experimenting.  
“Hello, new roommate.” Keith said jokily once the guards had left them alone in their cells.  
The man shrieked at the sound. “W-Who said that?” He said in a shaky voice. He was scared, that much was obvious.  
“Hello. Look across from you.” Keith waved a hand, like the man could've seen him in the darkness.  
The man’s gaze finally settled upon Keith. Keith could hear the shocked gasp. “You're-you’re a human!”  
Keith shrugged. “Eh. Only part. Doesn't really matter, after all. Here you're just a number to use.” He looked back to the man’s prosthesis. “...I guess you know that by now through.”  
“Oh.” The man responded, and they sat in silence for a while, before the man spoke again. “Well, we aren't just numbers. We have names..or, at least I hope you do-”  
“Keith.” He interrupted. “My name is Keith.” It felt good to just say that. He hadn't just said his name in so long. He hadn't just talked to somebody else in so long.  
“Takashi Shirogane. But Shiro is the name I use.” The man- Shiro responded.  
“Why are you still fighting?” Keith blurted out. There had to be some reason he was still fighting to stay alive, he looked and sounded pretty beat up. In the end most of the prisoners just gave up and died on their own accord.  
“My crew mates. I need to save them from this living hell.”  
“You get used to it.” Keith shrugged again. Nothing really seemed to phase him anymore.  
“How can I get used to this?!?” It was more a rhetorical question than anything.  
“You just do.” Keith thought about things he could say to start a conversation. He had to admit, it felt amazing to speak to somebody and have them answer. It felt good to be viewed as a person, not just a number or a tool to bend to somebody else's will. “What's Earth like?” He finally decided to ask.  
Him and Shiro sat there, with Shiro explaining every detail of Earth he could remember. It sounded absolutely wonderful, until a guard came and took Keith away. Shiro waved as Keith disappeared. Keith was almost certain that would be the last time he would see Shiro, but he tucked the description of Earth into his brain, trying to image the short blades of “grass” and the white “clouds” Shiro had told him about. Even if he was stuck here for the rest of his life, at least he had something to look forward to, even if he knew he would never actually see it. 

~~~~~~

Keith picked at the grass. It was almost exactly like he imagined. 

After that fateful day in the cell talking with Shiro, he had imagined Earth every quitant until he was rescued...by a giant mechanical lion. And Shiro was there. 

Shiro was always there.

When Keith would wake up with nightmares that he was just another number for experimentation, Shiro was right there to calm him down and help him fall back to sleep, and he did the same thing when Shiro had a nightmare. 

“Hey Shiro?” He asked, picking a yellow “flower” from the field the two were sitting in.  
“Yeah?” Shiro asked, gently kissing the top of Keith’s head and placing a violet flower into Keith’s hair.  
“Do you think we did good? You know, defending the universe?” They had defeated Zarkon, Lotor, Sendak and Haggar. The evil Galra empire was gone. They had saved Earth and countless other planets. They had ended the war. But Keith still wasn't sure if it was enough. 

Shiro held Keith’s hand in his own.  
“We did incredible, baby.”

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
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